Center for at-risk Jewish teens targeted by mob of pro-Hamas protesters.
By Susan Tawil, World Israel News
A group of 50-60 men thronged the London Jewish neighborhood of Hendon on Wednesday, to protest a small charitable event at which an IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldier was speaking.
Police were called to control the situation, as the rabble hurled anti-Israel and antisemitic epithets at passers-by.
Many of the mostly Muslim mob were masked in balaclavas, in an effort to hide their identities.
The event in question was a meeting of the Boys Clubhouse, a “safe environment” for at-risk Jewish teens.
Levi Simon, an IDF soldier, was invited to speak to the boys to motivate them to overcome adversity, stay away from drugs, and aspire to do well in life.
The talk had “nothing to do with the army,” said Clubhouse Founder and Chief Executive Ari Leaman, MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire, an honorific bestowed by the government for outstanding community achievement).
The time and address of the private event was leaked on social media by Dilly Hussain, editor of a Muslim blogsite called “5 Pillars”.
The word then circulated on a leftist website called Novara Media, and then on to other anti-Israel sites, encouraging protesters to show up and agitate. The information “somehow went out to almost every Palestinian group, that there is an IDF guy hosting a charity event,” said Leaman.
The protesters that gathered shouted: “Israeli scum!” and “Baby killers!” at pedestrians, and of course, chanted their timeworn “Free Palestine” and “River to the Sea” slogans over megaphones, disrupting surrounding workers and commercial businesses. A witness commented: “They are harassing the surrounding offices. No one can work because of their loudspeakers.”
The event was moved to a different address and carried on. Leaman observed regretfully: “…this is part of being Jewish in England today.”
The mob meanwhile tried to break into the Boys Clubhouse office. Police came to guard the entrances, as did the CST (Community Security Trust), a volunteer Jewish safety patrol, similar to New York’s “Shomrim” organization. No arrests were noted.